Overwatch 'cheat-maker' Bossland told to pay $8.6m to Blizzard

[dud]

Searched on the forums and came up empty. If this has already been discussed please let me know and will delete:


http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39490317



The developer of the hit video games World of Warcraft and Overwatch has successfully sued a company that sold "cheat" tools for its titles.

A California court ordered German firm Bossland to pay $8.6m (£6.8m) to Blizzard for 42,818 counts of copyright infringement.

Blizzard had argued that Bossland had reverse-engineered and otherwise altered its games without permission.

It follows related court rulings in the UK and Germany.

Bossland had attempted to have the US case dismissed, but did not defend itself in court, according to the news site Torrentfreak.


It also faces having to cover about $177,000 of legal costs.

"The Bossland hacks destroy the integrity of the Blizzard games, thereby alienating and frustrating legitimate players and diverting revenue from Blizzard to defendants," the US games developer had argued.

The tools included the ability to see other players' positions, health scores and other information from a distance within games.

The Zwickau-based firm could not be reached for comment.

Its website remains active and continues to advertise cheats for several Blizzard games, insisting "botting is not against any law".

 

[Rifter]

Good, i freaking hate cheating on online games, its the main reason i dont game much online anymore.

Hopefully more companies follow suit and shut down more cheating/hack sites.

 

[D007]

Awesome..Take that you pansy hackers!

 

[Denithor]

I wonder if $8.6MM is a real penalty or a paper cut? Also, I wonder if a 'cease and desist' was part of the ruling. If not to both, they will just keep on banking...

 

[rivethead]

I wonder if $8.6MM is a real penalty or a paper cut? Also, I wonder if a 'cease and desist' was part of the ruling. If not to both, they will just keep on banking...

I can't imagine a bot company having multiples of millions in profit....so I'm betting this penalty actually has teeth to it.

 

[Tweak155]

Good... stick it to em'.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Were these cheat programs written specifically for the Blizzard games? What about "generic" cheating apps / "trainer" apps, that are not target-program-specific, and need to be user-setup? I can't imagine those would be considered guilty of copyright infringement, any more than a debugger could.

 

[ImpulsE69]

If they are out of germany, does it even hold any water? I mean sure they can SAY they owe, but...what are they going to do, new D-Day?

 

[Malogeek]

Were these cheat programs written specifically for the Blizzard games? What about "generic" cheating apps / "trainer" apps, that are not target-program-specific, and need to be user-setup? I can't imagine those would be considered guilty of copyright infringement, any more than a debugger could.

It was stated they reverse engineered the game.

 

[magomago]

honestly i don't think it should hold water - reverse engineering something shouldn't be a copyright violation. Making hacking tools shouldn't be a violation as well.

the problem is that it completely destroys the healthy competitive nature of a gaming community, which I think is more of a ethical/moral question. That makes them douche-bags, but no worse than anyone else whose position is "there is a market need and I'm filling that market need". The problem isn't necessarily that these tools exist, but it is that people use them when playing online in a community where there is an expectation of no cheating - it ruins the fun. If people used these tools to have fun amongst friends, or private servers where everyone is taking advantage of it to make it more fun, then there would be no anger about it.

 

[smackababy]

honestly i don't think it should hold water - reverse engineering something shouldn't be a copyright violation. Making hacking tools shouldn't be a violation as well.

the problem is that it completely destroys the healthy competitive nature of a gaming community, which I think is more of a ethical/moral question. That makes them douche-bags, but no worse than anyone else whose position is "there is a market need and I'm filling that market need". The problem isn't necessarily that these tools exist, but it is that people use them when playing online in a community where there is an expectation of no cheating - it ruins the fun. If people used these tools to have fun amongst friends, or private servers where everyone is taking advantage of it to make it more fun, then there would be no anger about it.

I agree about the reverse engineering. Unfortunately, I think there is already a legal precedent when it comes to that. I believe a cd burning software company lost after they reverse engineered DRM.

 

[Tweak155]

honestly i don't think it should hold water - reverse engineering something shouldn't be a copyright violation. Making hacking tools shouldn't be a violation as well.

the problem is that it completely destroys the healthy competitive nature of a gaming community, which I think is more of a ethical/moral question. That makes them douche-bags, but no worse than anyone else whose position is "there is a market need and I'm filling that market need". The problem isn't necessarily that these tools exist, but it is that people use them when playing online in a community where there is an expectation of no cheating - it ruins the fun. If people used these tools to have fun amongst friends, or private servers where everyone is taking advantage of it to make it more fun, then there would be no anger about it.

While you skirt around the ultimate point, I believe you are at least partially correct. I think the ultimate reason Blizzard won this case is because the court felt they demonstrated a financial loss directly related to the existence of this software, which would not exist and serves no purpose out of the existence of the game Overwatch. How it came to be (reverse engineering) is a secondary point, although important, and one that helps prove their case.

 

[clok1966]

Blizz won on paper and that about it. there have already been lawsuits about "how i play the game i bought" and most end up being 'you can play it however you want" but with an ONLINE game where how you play affects others you get in the gray area . This will be where this is at, Blizz will need to prove the bot maker is harming them or people who play the game. If you buy the bot you are playing the game so its not harming them financially that way. But Blizz contends (and I agree) that me doing the work the hard way (farming or battlegrounds) and them using a bot's harms my play experience. Again we get to the point if that is true or not and I don't think that one has been decided concretely in court yet. So they will just keep making bots and money an since its most likel a business, when Blizz finally clamps down, they will just shut the doors,give out severance packages to the owners (to legally transfer all cash on hand) and say take whats left sue this company with no money and no owners, just investors. Then start under a new name and repeat. good to see its done in Germany too, not just the good old USA. (no i dot really mean good in a good way)

And its not Overwatch is it? but WOW with honorBXXX and DemonBXXX? So they have one for Overwatch now too?

 

[XavierMace]

The information in the OP references cheats not bots (which admittedly are sort of a cheat).

The tools included the ability to see other players' positions, health scores and other information from a distance within games.

I'd say botting is far harder to argue against than cheats like the above which give you an advantage outside game mechanics. Botting is still functioning inside the game mechanics (at least the bots I'm familiar with) but having a computer do it for you. So you're shortcutting the amount of time you have to spend to acquire something. The above is bypassing game mechanics and giving you a clear advantage over everyone else.

 

[aigomorla]

Were these cheat programs written specifically for the Blizzard games? What about "generic" cheating apps / "trainer" apps, that are not target-program-specific, and need to be user-setup? I can't imagine those would be considered guilty of copyright infringement, any more than a debugger could.

Cheat Engine also got a DMCA notice to pull down all scripts on their forums.
So now they basically only offer the software, which is a generic memory hex editor, and pulled all the scripts off.

The arguement to this was that, using said hex editor and scripts people could hex edit currency (single player) which u would normally have to attain via paid micro transaction.... unless u wanted to grind...

LOL... to me this is utter BS. Im sorry, but i refuse micro transaction in single player offline games for virtual currency, and i dont want to grind to advance.

I say single player because cheat engine did not allow the discussion of multi player hax and scripts. The said scripts had to be for single player / offline mode games only.

 

[Zenoth]

If anything, it might have some psychological 'impact' on other cheats-selling "companies" (on the people running them). They need to understand that there is a risk doing what they do, and that the developer(s) of the game(s) that they're selling cheats for might sue the heck out of them. The obvious 'risk' is the amount of money involved in such situations. But beyond the money... not sure if it's ever going to also include jail time for anyone. If it was just for me there would be tons of arrests and tons of fun in jail. Those "companies" exist simply because there's money to be made with cheats and aimbots, etc. So just punch them where it hurts and empty their wallets, that should be a good wake up call at least for some of them.

My (innocently stupid) hope is that similar companies merely read those news and go "Oh shit..." and completely cease their 'operations', close their web sites and go do something else with their life... dunno, lumberjack or something. Just something else, and leave honest video gamers in peace, or just go cheat offline in your single-player game modes.

 

[Mandres]

I hate cheating/botting in online games, but trying it to stop it through the courts is a total waste of time.
Blizzard will never see the first penny of that $8million, and it won't change a thing. The very next day a different company with a different website will be selling the exact same code. I don't agree with the court's interpretation of copyright law here either. You have to stretch the language pretty far to even apply the statute here, and I can't begin to guess how Blizzard quantified their damages.

Cheating in online games is a problem, but I'm still not convinced it's a legal problem.

 

[local]

This reminds me of those several hundred million dollar penalties for downloading music. It is meant to scare people.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I hate cheating/botting in online games, but trying it to stop it through the courts is a total waste of time.
Blizzard will never see the first penny of that $8million, and it won't change a thing. The very next day a different company with a different website will be selling the exact same code. I don't agree with the court's interpretation of copyright law here either. You have to stretch the language pretty far to even apply the statute here, and I can't begin to guess how Blizzard quantified their damages.

Cheating in online games is a problem, but I'm still not convinced it's a legal problem.

They don't really care about seeing the 8 million. It's more about setting the precedent. $15 a month x at super low estimates of 5,000,000 players a month is already 75 mil.

 

[HumblePie]

Lexmak printer case in SCOTUS should have a major impact on cases like this.

Basicaly it breaks down to do we own the software we purchase? If so, then we can do whatever the truck we want to it. Blizzard obviously owns the software on their servers, so if they want to "ban" people from contacting their server that is their right.

While I hate cheats in online games, and is one of the reasons I don't play many online shooters these days, I dislike the precedent these civil cases are trying to set on weak logic through the DMCA. Speaking of which, the DMCA doesn't even cover crap out of the states, so trying to sue a company not based here is just plain stupid. They aren't ever going to collect. It's a dog and pony show.

 

[HumblePie]

I hate cheating/botting in online games, but trying it to stop it through the courts is a total waste of time.
Blizzard will never see the first penny of that $8million, and it won't change a thing. The very next day a different company with a different website will be selling the exact same code. I don't agree with the court's interpretation of copyright law here either. You have to stretch the language pretty far to even apply the statute here, and I can't begin to guess how Blizzard quantified their damages.

Cheating in online games is a problem, but I'm still not convinced it's a legal problem.

To the bolded, this is true of all of them. For example, recently Riot won a civil case against a "cheat" making software company called LeagueSharp. The cheater making company said, sure whatever Riot. Instead of paying money (despite the supposed award) they also agreed to "shut down" their site. So leaguesharp is now "gone" and instead a new site called GamingOnSteroids has taken its place. Same cheats, different name. Heck the site looks the same except instead of a blue theme it is a green theme now.

Gaming companies are just wasting their money trying to think they can solve this through legal means. They can't. Nor should they. They should just focus on creating a better game that is harder to hack.

 

[JSt0rm]

this should open the doors for all these hack companies to get sued.

 

[HumblePie]

this should open the doors for all these hack companies to get sued.

Not really. As much as it would nice for the legitimate online gamers to want to have those places all shut down, it sets a real bad precedent to the overall market. I mean can in the future Microsoft dictate what you can or can't install on computers that have windows? It would reverse decisions about things like being legally allowed to "jailbreak" your own iPhone.

Even in this case, really Blizzard has to show malicious intent to disrupt their business by bossland which if bossland fought back it wouldn't be shown. They don't fight because they don't care because it doesn't really ruin them to have some company from another country get some uncollectable claim filed against them. Blizzard knows it is BS and are only mainly doing this for the PR to bolster consumer confidence in their products.

 

[JSt0rm]

Not really. As much as it would nice for the legitimate online gamers to want to have those places all shut down, it sets a real bad precedent to the overall market. I mean can in the future Microsoft dictate what you can or can't install on computers that have windows? It would reverse decisions about things like being legally allowed to "jailbreak" your own iPhone.

Even in this case, really Blizzard has to show malicious intent to disrupt their business by bossland which if bossland fought back it wouldn't be shown. They don't fight because they don't care because it doesn't really ruin them to have some company from another country get some uncollectable claim filed against them. Blizzard knows it is BS and are only mainly doing this for the PR to bolster consumer confidence in their products.

bossland was altering blizzards code and then selling it. Thats a big no.

 

[JSt0rm]

i forgot im in the land of lets steal all games and movies. In your mind code shouldnt be owned by the people who made it. Convenient